Measuring Success: The Sales Giveth and They Taketh Away

The trick to having an open door policy to your sales numbers is leaving the door open no matter what the place looks like inside. That means if things are messy and not exactly what you’d like people to see, you should have considered that before sticking the welcome sign out front. What I’m trying to say is that while our last rendition of Measuring Success showed some really happy numbers, today’s update is going in the opposite direction.

Lately, I’ve heard a few other indie RPG publishers lamenting on online sales recently, including disappointment over the ever-popular Christmas in July sale on all DriveThruRPG sites, and BRG’s numbers tend to back up that sentiment. There are other factors to consider (there always are), such as the massive surge in sales gained through last summer’s Bundle of Holding offer and the sheer fact that our only current product line, Killshot, is three years old without any recent additions. There’s no denying Killshot has not exactly been top priority in our marketing lately as all our focus has been on our second child, ScreenPlay, and its upcoming free playtest release. (See, we did it again!) With that in mind and as the end of September brings about the end of a fiscal year, I’ve had a chance to take a good look over the sales figures of the past year and have started to use them as guidelines for how we’re going to approach ScreenPlay‘s full release in 2016. What that exactly entails will also depend on how the Rehearsal Edition’s release plays out, so there will be no details on 2016’s plans today. For now and in light of the fact that the opening pitch now a week away, I’m going to simply post this past quarter’s sales totals, stay calm and carry on.